Graduate Accomplishments
Autumn 2009
AWARDS
Hong V. Nguyen, a second year clinical graduate student, won the 2009 Outstanding Student Paper Award at the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality's annual meeting. Her paper was titled "Sexual risk and sexual inhibition: An analysis of ethnic differences between Asian Americans, African Americans, and Caucasian Americans." Her advisor is William George.
J. Oliver Siy was awarded a Diversity Fund Graduate Travel Award to attend the Personality and Social Psychology conference next year. His advisor is Sapna Cheryan.
Eric Pedersen received an APASSC Early Graduate Research Award from the APA Science Student Council. His advisor is Mary Larimer.
Diane Logan received the outstanding dissertation award at the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies conference (New York City, November 19-22) national conference. Her advisor is G. Alan Marlatt.
COMPLETED GENERAL EXAMINATIONS AND ADVANCED TO CANDIDACY:
Emily Neuhaus, fifth year child clinical student with Ted Beauchaine.
Clara Wilkins, fourth year social psychology and personality student with Cheryl Kaiser.
Lori Wu Malahy, fourth year social psychology and personality student with Cheryl Kaiser.
Jennifer Wang, fourth year social psychology and personality student with Janxin Leu.
Maureen Zalewski, fifth year child clinical student with Liliana Lengua
Tami Rigterink, fifth year developmental student with Lynn Fainsilber Katz.
Eric Pedersen, third year adult clinical student with Mary Larimer.
Tamara Spiewak Toub, fourth year developmental student with Betty Repacholi
Lauren Jones Graham, third year behavioral neuroscience student with Jeansok Kim.
Karen Burner, Daniel Chen, Ricardo Contreras, Marissa Corona, Rick Cruz, Amanda Gilmore, Joel Grow, Jeff Lin, Eric Pedersen, and Kate Stamper all completed a Master’s degree in Autumn quarter. Congratulations!
MEET OUR NEW PHDs:
Nicole McNichols, a social psychology and personality student with Yuichi Shoda, successfully defended her dissertation, "Thinking of one’s purpose vs. focusing on the process: How behavioral representations function as a coping strategy."
Michael Perry, a cognition and perception student with John Miyamoto, defended his dissertation, "Testing two computational models of preference: The person trade-off and cumulative prospect theory."
Sheila Crowell, a child clinical student with Ted Beauchaine, defended her dissertation, "Self-injurious behaviors among adolescent females: A biosocial approach." Sheila is now an Assistant Professor (Clinical area) at the University of Utah, Department of Psychology.
Erin Hunter, a child clinical student with Lynn Fainsilber Katz, completed her internship with the University of Rochester, which was her final program requirement for the Ph.D.! She accepted a Visiting Assistant Professor position in the Psychology Department at Wells College and will be joining the University of Michigan to do a post-doc - split research (with Sandra Graham-Bermann) and clinical work in the summer. Her dissertation topic was "Parent socialization of adolescent emotion: Moderation by adolescent depressive status."
Jenna Lee, a social psychology and personality student with Yuichi Shoda defended her dissertation, "The situation and the person: A social-cognitive approach to modeling and predicting people's unique patterns of emotional and behavioral responses to complex social situations." She is currently working at Microsoft.
Christeine Terry, an adult clinical student with Robert Kohlenberg, defended her dissertation, "Attitudes about mental illness and substance abuse in mental health care trainees: Do attitudes influence trainees’ treatment behaviors." Christeine is now a Post Doctoral Fellow at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.
Winter 2010
AWARDS
Karen Burner was awarded a doctoral training award from the Autism Science Foundation for her project “Observational and electrophysiological assessment of temperament in infants at risk for ASD”. Her mentor is Sara Jane Webb.
Dellanira Valencia-Garcia, MA, Ph.C. was awarded the 2010 Student Research Award from the Society for Behavioral Medicine, Women’s Health Special Interest Group, for her work on HIV-positive women in Peru. She will receive the award at the SBM conference in April. Her advisor is Jane Simoni.
Tamara Spiewak Toub is a member of the UW Women’s Choir and the newly-formed smaller women's ensemble “Vox Parnassus” that was featured in the February 25 University Week article, “The power of song: UW Women's Choir, St. Mark's Women's Choir team for concert to help homeless (women).” Tamara is a graduate student in the developmental area, with Betty Repacholi.
COMPLETED GENERAL EXAMINATIONS AND ADVANCED TO CANDIDACY:
Dan Byrd, fourth year social psychology and personality student with Christopher Parker (Political Science) and Yuichi Shoda.
Melana Yanos, fifth year behavioral neuroscience student with Matt Kaeberlein (Pathology) and Sheri Mizumori.
Aileen Echiverri, sixth year adult clinical student with Lori Zoellner. (Aileen also completed a Master’s degree in the same quarter.)
Susanne Martin Herz, child clinical student with Bob McMahon.
MEET OUR NEW PHDs:
Min Jung Kim, a behavioral neuroscience student with Ilene Bernstein and Sheri Mizumori, defended her dissertation, "Neuronal adaptation during associative learning: In vivo unit-recording studies in amygdala and the midbrain dopamine system of rats." She is currently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a Post-Doc.
Rachel Severson, a developmental student with Peter Kahn, defended her dissertation. She was also awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Norway where she will be a 2010-11 Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature, at the University of Oslo. Rachel and her husband, Karl, are taking advantage of the opportunity to fulfill a long-time goal of blue water cruising and will be sailing their boat to Norway this spring and summer.
Danielle Beck, a developmental student withStephanie Carlson, defended her dissertation, "Executive function and its relation to childhood body mass index." She continues her Assistant Professor position in the Psychology Department at Simpson University in Redding, California.
Spring 2010
AWARDS
Samantha Yard was a recipient of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA). She is an adult clinical student with Jane Simoni.
Joshua Tabak received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in Social Psychology. He is a first year social psychology and personality student with Sapna Cheryan. His grant is titled: "Closing minority achievement gaps: Knowledge of safe spaces promotes academic success."
Cara Kiff, a fifth year child clinical student with Liliana Lengua, was awarded a $2,000 Koppitz scholarship from the American Psychology Foundation for her project “Bidirectional relations of emotionality and parenting to child psychopathology."
Sarah Faegre was awarded a 2010 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Her project is entitled "Dispersal behavior and habitat occupancy of island corvids." The award consists of three years full tuition plus a stipend. She is an incoming animal behavior student with Jim Ha.
Rick Cruz (GPSS senator, GPAC representative third year child clinical student) and Andrew Bock (GPAC chair and fourth year behavioral neuroscience student) co-authored a UW Student Technology Fee (STF) proposal that was funded for $33,156 worth of departmental technology upgrades. The award includes funding for new desktop and laptop computers (PCs and Macs), printers, projectors, software, and other equipment. Additional computers were also obtained from the CRC computer lab, bringing the total award closer to $40,000. This process involved a collaboration between students, faculty, staff and administrators. The computers and other equipment will be purchased and set up in various locations (including Guthrie Annex 4, Media Lab, and the Clinic staff therapist room) during the next few months.
[Students who complete their general exams or defend their dissertation in Spring 2010 will be included in the Fall 2010 enewsletter]